Have recent events caused you to want to move that “back of my mind” business idea out of mothball storage, dust it off and see whether it will work? Congratulations! You are an entrepreneur at heart, and no matter what they tell you, you are well on your way to being your own boss.

Of course having an idea for a business is but the first step towards your successful future, but it is the first and most valuable step. Your friends may all say your idea would be a hit, or they may be naysayers who predict total failure …but how can you be sure? How can you discover your chances for success before you actually start the business?

The very step after forming your idea deals with discovering your success potential. Don't panic, there is no need to rush out and hire a market research firm (although that may be a good idea later in your analysis), nor is there any need to spend gobs of money. This first step is only to find out for sure if there is anyone out there that will buy what you offer. It’s often called, “Find the need.” After that, analyze yourself and your competition, then make a decision. Here’s how.

START A BIZBOOK
Purchase a 2" wide loose leaf notebook and a set of index tabs. Use this book as your BizBook where you put every scrap of information dealing with your proposed business. As you gather information, file it under tabs with names like: big picture, legal, location, competition, accounting, pricing, growth, employee tasks, and similar names. These are a few sample tabs and the information that might go into your BizBook.

THE BIG PICTURE
You didn't come up with your idea completely by accident, so ask and answer the big picture questions in this section. What forces led you to make your decision? What is happening nationally and locally to businesses similar to the one you propose? Is demand increasing? Has the industry grown? Make copies of newspaper and magazine articles to back up what you say. Write out your results and make a case for your new business.

SELF ANALYSIS
What strengths do you have that would help your business succeed? If your business is a people business, are you good with people? Do you have the special skills and talents required? Do you have the time and money needed to get started? Do you have the necessary accounting and management background? How about sales talent?

Put these and similar questions on one side of a page and list strengths and weaknesses you discover on the other side. Be honest. Decide if you have the talents, skills, money, background, and everything else needed to make your dream come true. Determine whether you may be better at one part of the market than another part. Select the part you fit the best and estimate the cost of hiring outsiders to fill the rest.

ANALYZE COMPETITION
This one is simple. Make a chart showing similar product/service competitors, what items they sell, how much they charge, where their customer has to go to obtain the product, how it's packaged, and every other fact that deals with this interaction. Then add another column where you record what is missing from your competitor's offering, what it could cost, and similar information.

ANALYZE & QUERY
This step is where you put together the information you have into a form you can use to gather facts from potential customers. With your competitive analysis in hand, start asking questions of potential customers such as: "Do you want or need the missing product or services?" and "What would you pay?" and other questions such as: "Would you buy from me if I supplied it in a larger or smaller size?"

FINAL DECISION
The end result of your work will be a fabulous analysis of your success opportunity. Yes, you can hire a research firm to get all of this done with quicker, more refined and detailed results; but for this first cut, do it yourself. The final decision is yours. If positive, get busy writing that business plan, raise the money, and get going!

(NOTE TO EDITORS: PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING.)
Paul Tulenko is a Small Business Success Consultant based in New Mexico. Additional tips and suggestions are available at www.tulenko.com or call (toll-free) 1-866-TULENKO.